The unlikely roommates
by AmyNY
Summary: One small apartment and two very independent, stubborn people forced to share it. Sometimes you find comfort in unlikeliest of places. Mergana. Post s5.


**Disclaimer**: I own nothing.

**A/N:** Lately I have read a lot of modern Mergana AU stories and finally decided to give it a go and I have to say this was fun to write. Huge thanks goes to my beta **hiddendaisy1821, **check out his Mergana stories if you haven't already, they're amazing! Anyway hope you enjoy this!

-oo—

This could be it, she thinks sitting in a trendy London pub and looking at the most perfect pair of brown eyes. She can't even begin to pretend she remembers his name but he's rich and handsome, he'd threat her like a princess. (And isn't that all she ever wanted?)

Morgana laughs at all the right places, crosses her legs, letting the soft, silky material of her skirt ride up just a little too high up her thigh, looks at him under those long eyelashes and tries to ignore Merlin sitting at the bar looking rather unimpressed by her little act.

She purposely lets her bangs fall a little too close to her eyes, hiding him from view and focuses her attention on the glass of wine, her long nails tapping on the crystal to drown out boring chatter of her date.

Five minutes later she stands up, grabs her leather jacket and strolls over to Merlin.

"We're having Chinese and you're paying," she says, brushing a shoulder against his a little too harshly as she walks out, his eyes following her, a smile on his lips no doubt.

-oo-

_Six months earlier…_

Never once did Morgana think that someday she'd be sharing an apartment with the man who tried to kill her (more than once mind you). In her defense she was jobless for the last six months and was therefore unable to pay rent for her apartment (it was a little hard to find a job when you had no birth certificate let alone an I.D or and half decent credentials) so that's why she found herself one morning knocking on his door, with nothing but her bag and a suitcase in hand.

You know what they say about desperate times...They make for some unusual decision making consequences, like searching for an unlikely tenant.

She half expected him to slam the door in her face or stumble all over his words when he saw his mortal enemy standing at his doorway yet he did neither (only he could manage to surprise her after a millennium and a half). Guess a fact she swallowed her pride and came here after what he did had to count for something.

Merlin opened the door in grey washed out jeans and a simple black shirt, running a hand through his dark hair sleepily. Her heart skipped a beat but she chose to believe it had nothing to do with the scrawny man standing before her. She was just glad she had somewhere to sleep again.

And then Merlin recognized her and his whole posture changed. Suddenly he looked very alert and awake, maybe even a little annoyed and the moment was over when he finally spoke her name in that low voice, "Morgana."

"I could say I'm glad to see you but we both know that would be a big lie. However I do need a place to stay so if you wouldn't mind-" she said and pushed past him as he stood in the doorway, baffled, and just like that, without much fuss or discussion, they became roommates.

-oo-

For the first few weeks Merlin did everything in his power to avoid her, making it blatantly obvious how completely uncomfortable this whole situation was for him and how much he didn't want her here. Still being Merlin he did not have a heart to throw her out on the street.

Morgana spend most of her nights at Connor's (the boyfriend) anyway so it really wasn't so hard to stay out of each other's way. Even when she was at the apartment she usually stayed in her own room reading or looking for a job on her laptop, while he made dinner in the kitchen or watched late night talk shows on the telly. Like two characters in a well-rehearsed play they managed to coexist in the same space, forever passing each other by.

But then she and Connor broke up and she didn't have the energy to think about Merlin or the fact that he would be back from work in half an hour and she'd be sitting on his couch in the living room, in her bathrobe, a half empty bottle of wine on the table making her company.

Deep down she was aware that all this had little to do with Connor and all to do with her being alone for so, so long that even someone like him, someone who barely knew her was better than nothing. Better than the silence Merlin offered her. There wasn't even distain or hate in his eyes now when he looked at her, there was only that deep seated sadness he covered up with a smile, one that was there since that awful day at the lake of Avalon.

She shivered at the thought and pulled out an old pack of Marlboro's from ages ago and lit up a cigarette. The pack was actually his, it was just another one of those things she absolutely disliked about him, but right now she felt particularly masochistic so who cares?

That's how Merlin found her. He didn't say anything, putting down his worn out messenger bag and jacket.

"Wow, this place is a mess. Care to help me clean up?"

She looked up at him from some stupid TV commercial ready to dish out a snappy, sarcastic response until he raised his hand and whispered something in Old English, and she watched in owe as a few items of clothes on the couch beside her floated up in the air before they were folded neatly and put back down. Without him saying a word she put out her cigarette and went to help him. He promised to teach her a few new tricks and spells she was sure would do wonders for her career (she could see it in her CV under special skills – organizing with the help of magic…ha).

They didn't say much but the tension in the room dissipated as they got on with work, and she didn't even mind him bursting into a laughing fit when she tried with little success to do a new spell spilling an entire carton of milk all over herself in the process.

With time they actually managed to have decent conversations over coffee or tea in the morning without things being awkward and if she slept in (he always woke up first since he had to be at work early) he'd always leave her a warm cup of Tetley green tea (her favorite) on the counter in the kitchen. When he first did that she actually caught herself smiling alone in the middle of the kitchen at a stupid cup of tea (How did he even still remember that was her favorite, when she barely did?). Did she actually find his actions, or God forbid Merlin endearing?

It wasn't just that.

Morgana went on a few dates every now and then but it was all starting to get a bit repetitive. She was tired of the same old questions. Where did you grow up, what do your parents do, what job do you wish to find…etc. When she was on a particularly boring date she tried to imagine what would it look like if she actually honestly answered those questions – well I grew up in a little place called Camelot, and my father was Uther Pendragon, you might have heard of him... yes that would make for some very awkward dinner conversation.

With Merlin she didn't have to lie and pretend - he already knew all that about her. And when she played the nice girl, all fluttering eyelashes and shy smiles he'd probably just laugh and tell her to cut the act and buy them both a beer.

He could always see right through her lies and pretenses.

-oo-

One night when they stayed in and got really, really drunk watching the Star Wars trilogy per her request Merlin admitted he had a crush on her when he first saw her. But that was squashed as soon as he got a chance to meet the real Morgana of course.

Morgana laughed and punched him on the shoulder a little too hard. "Bastard."

"Ow, that hurt," he quipped, feigning he was actually in pain.

"I hope so." she said with a smirk before turning her attention back to the screen.

It took her a few more drinks to admit (he was always the one who was more brave) "I sort of thought you were nice too before you went and tried to murder me."

His eyes darkened at that and she knew she went too far. They had an unwritten rule to never ever talk about _that _and there she went and broke it. Did his words really affect her that much that she had to hurt him like this?

He looked completely miserable and even though he remained silent it was written all over his face. _I blame myself for what you have become. _And she said something she should've told him a long time ago.

"I'm sorry." A pale excuse in comparison to all her sins, but it was an honest apology, her first. It was just three little words but she hoped he understood all she failed to say, all she meant.

"I'm sorry too," he says and she only regrets it took them both this long to get here. But as hard as it is she knows that that Morgana could never look at the boy before her and see him for who he really was, not who she made him out to be.

-oo-

And that's what it all gets down to. He knows her deepest secrets and doesn't look away.

And she knows him too. Not just the old Merlin of the past but also the one who is so used to being alone that he still forgets to set another plate for lunch or who jumps in surprise every time she joins him on the couch to watch some telly.

On those rainy days when he misses Camelot so badly his body aches, he has her there to talk to. At first he didn't want to, but then he remembered that it wasn't all bad, that it wasn't all revenge and darkness, that she was also there during the good times, that she was once the girl who teased Arthur and beat him more than once in their sparing matches. Often they found themselves lost in conversation about those times and he realized there was so much he forgot (who could blame him after more than a millennium) and now it was like he was discovering it again. He never believed there would come a day when he could talk about Arthur and Camelot with a smile on his face.

-oo-

Life goes on, they both get lost in everyday routine, and somewhere between laundry and… it's easy to forget. Until the night falls, bringing with it all her old demons and nightmares – the one unwanted companion she can't seem to be rid of.

Her psychic abilities have faded away with time so it's not as bad as it was before. Most of the time when she wakes up she barely remembers them but on occasion she does wake up screaming (some things you just never get used to) and calling out the names that were now nothing more but the inking on the old, worn out paper. Gwen. Arthur. Morgause.

It takes her a while to calm down and so she sits there in the dark, eyes focused on the door, waiting for her heartbeat to slow down, for the images to fade away.

Merlin sits on the other side of those same doors on the parquet floor, feet sprawled in front of him, head resting on the doorpost until the first sunrays wake him up. She finds him like that, in his old sweats and a Snow Patrol shirt looking at her from the floor with tired eyes.

"I can help." he says. Maybe he always could, if only she accepted, if he wasn't afraid to reach out, if they met half way. Kind of like they were doing right now on the floor of a shared North London apartment.

She doesn't say anything, just nods her head, exhausted.

A week later she falls asleep with a lavender scented candle by her bed and a book on her chest and doesn't wake once, not even when he tiptoes to the room to blow out the flame.

-oo-

On the anniversary of Arthur's death they go to visit him together. She doesn't mean to come, feels like she has no right to but in the end she's afraid to let him go alone. And maybe the time has also come for her to go and ask for forgiveness the one person she's wronged the most.

There is a park there now, a beautiful green oasis right by the lakeside. Morgana walks with him in silence until they come closer to the lake and then very intentionally she slows down, letting him go on his own as she watches from the distance, not wanting to intrude on this moment.

Merlin's eyes darken, his smile faltering as he looks at the glassy surface and even if he'd never admit it she knows even now he still held some hope that Arthur would be standing there when he looked up and she rubs his shoulder gently encouraging him to go and talk to his best friend.

There is a bench near the water and Merlin walks up to it with purpose and it's more than obvious he has done this many, many times before. As soon as he sits down his shoulders slump and it takes him a moment before he finally looks up in the distance, taking in the infinite blue with tears in his eyes.

She lets him be, let's the time pass before she joins him, her legs trembling with every step she takes.

Foolishly, stupidly she thinks Arthur may return when he sees them sitting there together, just to put some sense into Merlin. The image makes her smile and she relaxes a little, feels the knot in her chest untangling, feels his eyes observing her with curiosity.

She asked him once 'What if magic isn't something you chose, what if it chooses you?' It was the same with them. She wasn't what he thought he wanted but destiny had other plans.

"Coffee?" he offers after a while, when the sun has long passed the east, leaving the golden trail across the restless surface on the late afternoon. Morgana can see the disappointment in his eyes even after all these years but he's offering her a hand, not hiding away in his room as he did many, many times and so she decides to meet him half way, maybe chase away the shadows from those blue eyes.

"Absolutely."

If he hasn't alienated Mordred, if she wasn't so single-minded using the boy for her own goals... They don't talk about any of that. There are plenty of other topics to cover. Decades, centuries of adventures and stories, both funny and sad to share, to laugh and cry about. New ones they make together.

And this one story that still leads them to that bench by the lake, every year, as they wait for the once and future king to return, together.

-00-

Years later there is a knock on the door and one very confused looking man with wide blue eyes staring at them "What are you two..."

(the end)


End file.
